Allan Wyon (1843–1907) was an English medallist and seal-engraver.
Contents
Allan Wyon (1843–1907) was an English medallist and seal-engraver.
He was the son of Benjamin Wyon, and the younger brother of Joseph Shepherd Wyon and Alfred Benjamin Wyon. He went into the family arts, and for a time supported his brother Joseph in medal-work. From 1884 till his death he carried on in London the business of the Wyon firm of medallists and engravers founded by his grandfather, Thomas Wyon the elder. [1]
From 1884 to 1901 Wyon held the post of engraver of the royal seals, a post that had been successively held by his father and his two elder brothers. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (elected 1889) and of the Numismatic Society of London (elected 1885), and was at one time treasurer and vice-president of the British Archæological Association. [1]
Wyon died at Hampstead on 25 January 1907. [1]
Wyon made the episcopal seals for the archbishops of Canterbury and York; the seal for the secretary of Scotland in 1889, and the Great Seal of Ireland in 1890. The great seal of Queen Victoria of 1899 was not his, but the work of George William de Saulles. [1]
Among Wyon's medals were: [1]
He signed in full as "Allan Wyon". Wyon also compiled and published The Great Seals of England (1887, with 55 plates), a work begun by his brother Alfred. [1]
Wyon married in 1880 Harriet, daughter of G. W. Gairdner of Hampstead, and had three daughters and two sons; the elder son was Allan G. Wyon, [1] and the younger was Guy Alfred Wyon. [2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Wyon, Allan". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
William Wyon, was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death.
Benedetto Pistrucci was an Italian gem-engraver, medallist and coin engraver, probably best known for his Saint George and the Dragon design for the British sovereign coin. Pistrucci was commissioned by the British government to create the large Waterloo Medal, a project which took him thirty years to complete.
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the "Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Park Corner. During his career Boehm maintained a large studio in London and produced a significant volume of public works and private commissions. A speciality of Boehm's was the portrait bust; there are many examples of these in the National Portrait Gallery. He was often commissioned by the Royal Family and members of the aristocracy to make sculptures for their parks and gardens. His works were many, and he exhibited 123 of them at the Royal Academy from 1862 to his death in 1890.
The Great Seal of the Realm is a seal that is used to symbolise the Sovereign's approval of state documents. It is also known as the Great Seal of the United Kingdom. To make it, sealing wax is melted in a metal mould or matrix and impressed into a wax figure that is attached by cord or ribbon to documents that the Monarch wishes to seal officially. The formal keeper of the seal is the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.
Several members of the Wyon family were noted medal makers:
Thomas Wyon the Younger was an English medallist and chief engraver at the Royal Mint.
Allan Gairdner Wyon FRBS RMS was a British die-engraver and sculptor and, in later life, vicar in Newlyn, Cornwall.
Henry Moore was an English marine and landscape painter.
John Roettiers was a celebrated English engraver and medallist.
George William de Saulles was a British medallist. He designed the obverse of coins of the United Kingdom and its colonies under Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.
Leonard Charles Wyon was a British engraver of the Victorian era most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and the bronze coinage of 1860 with the second ("bun") head portrait, in use from 1860 to 1894.
Scipio Clint (1805–1839) was an English medallist and seal-engraver.
Benjamin Wyon was a British engraver of seals, and medallist.
Joseph Shepherd Wyon was a British medallist and seal-engraver.
Thomas Wyon the elder (1767–1830) of the Wyon family was an English engraver of dies, who became Chief Engraver of the Seals.
Peter Wyon (1767–1822) was an engraver of medals and coins. He was born into a family who had a long tradition of dye-engraving. He was the son of George Wyon, as well as the brother of Thomas Wyon, with whom he went into business for a short time. Both his nephew, Thomas Wyon, and his son, William Wyon, held the position of Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint.
The Wyon family was an English family of traditional die-engravers and medallists, many of whom went on to work in prominent roles at the Royal Mint or as engravers in a family die business. Starting from Peter George (II) Wyon who migrated to England from Cologne, Germany many subsequent descendants of have made notable contribution to British numismatics. Over the course of the 19th-century two members of the family became Chief Engraver at the Royal Mint with many more involved in coin design.
Guy Alfred Wyon MD, BSc. was an English pathologist, researcher and lecturer, focusing mainly on bacterial growth and producing papers on the subject.
Joseph Moore was a British medallist.
Lewis Pingo, was a noted eighteenth medallist and engraver. From a family of engravers and medallists, he was the son of the Assistant Engraver at the Mint, Thomas Pingo. He was also the brother of the engraver, John Pingo and the York Herald, Benjamin Pingo.
